Payback time will test patriot theory

DURING Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, one of his proposals was an extra 1% tax on those earning more than $250,000 a year which, it transpires, is less than 3% of the American population.

At the time he was lambasted for such a proposal and was accused of being a communist (remember them?) or at best a socialist in that he was proposing the redistribution of wealth to help the needy.

Since then the whole financial system has collapsed and now it seems it is the duty of every American citizen, including the needy, to share in the burden of its recovery.

This is known as patriotism.

So it appears taxing the rich is communism and taxing everyone else is patriotism.

And when the economy has recovered, will all those who shared in the burden of this recovery get to share in the profits, or does patriotism stop short of this?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Dave McInerney

Rivendell

Coolatuder

Ballinhassig

Co Cork